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valdederon · 9 months

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FLAMES JOURNEY CHAPTER #14 ancient secrets and difficult combat

with in minutes of valdederon beeing surounded hebegins dodging attacks from the ancient gollems witch use elemtntal magic attacks one even using a type of lava magic melting the stone floor in spots

valdederon---- well this is a dam fine situation isnt it.. fuk sake.

he dodges out of the strikes and uses a quick attack to dart through a gap out of the room to get some distance and begins firing stone bullet spells to see how efective thed be only taking out 3 of the more delapidated golems the stones bouncing off the others so he switches up to wind type blade spell witch cuts into the thick stone causing light cracks.

valdederon---well..thats good to know.wind blade works to some extent.. but theres to many of them to try an use it repeatedly.

for an hour valdederon fights the hyper agressive gollems dopping them slowly 1 at a tyme having to focuse all his energy at one target at a time to take them down with any speed only having taken out 7 he pants heabily and notices at a fiar few are lined up in a perfect row and unleashes a holy javiline the spear of ligning ripping 12 in hallf all at once the other gollems backing up slighly reccognizing the danger of bunching up close together the cores of the 12 golems melted into ap udle of molten stone silver and gold.

valdederon---fuking hell these buggers are smart..

panting heavily valdederon holds his staf up and out forward of his body staring down the rest of the 31 golems both sides at a stale mate neither side making a move giving valdederon ample time to rest and recover some of his arcane power and physical stamina. soon one golem aproaches non agressively core yellowish orange instead of agressive red as if aproaching to end the stale mate.

valdederon--- can you rock heaps speak..niether one of us have gained much ground and youve all seens my holy javiline spell can tear you apart.. and to get to me youd have to enter the hallway witch would become a kill box.

the golem begins projecting poke script in the air with a magic projection

gollems pokescript --- state your business in this sacred place flesh bag.. or be torn apart

valdederon-- realy.. rock for brains.. kill box… holy javiline.. 12 dead at once.. i have more powerful and destructive spells by the way.. call me by my name.. valdederon and ill answer your question.. other wise ill come in and destoy the rest of you.. all 31 of you..

the gollem takes a moment to process it and reply

gollem pokescript --- verry well valdederon.. state your purpose in this sacred place

valdederon--- at the moment exploring and looking for any valuable knowledge.. if your willing tp part with it id also like to take some jewels and gems to help pay for the damage i caused in my guild i dont wish to plunder your.. sacred grounds dry..

the gollems all seem to think while stading still. untill attacking att at once valdederon sighing in anoyance

valdederon--- fine.. your funeral holly javiline i callapon you split your self into many and pierce my foes

a laerge gold ligning spear forms and splits into several smaller ones from edge to edge filling the hall way and unleashing them selves into the golems in a coninuous volley like a macgine gun mowing down an army after a short 10 minutes all thats left of the gollems ias a molten puffle as valdederon walks back to the room finding many books and even a old note paper next to a long dried ink well and a feather pen inside it he picks up the note and begins to read it.

(( WARNING DESCRIPTIONS OF HATE AND ABUSE OF ANOTHERS RACE ))

note ->-- i find my self one of verry few left who still rembers the old ways of magic.. my name is sellpheema and im in some ways consideered an infadell.. the fairies have tried to shield me but the world changes and its become bigoted.. hateful distrusting.. im a half blood. a vile sach of flesh.. ive even been caled tainted fairy.. my best friend was exacuted weeks ago he was a kind boy only 326 years old.. still a young adult. his wings were riped off of his my mother a clefable told me to run and find some place safe to hold down. my dad a type of fairy called a pixie is probably out exploring old ruins and researching them. if you find this note and this old crypt treat my treasures with respect and love my delphox friend left me his staff and left a coupel days ago ugh ill have to build gollems to protect my crypt here i leave you the reader evrything i posess in the event im long since passed on. please stay safe and stand up to bullies revive magic in this world.

valdederon--- poor guy must have been rough no wonder the gollems were agressive.. ill collect this stuff after reading up thes books. ha ha vex will be happy to have some new books in the archives.

he looks through the books carefuly turing the pages by using psychic on it avoding tearing the delicate and fragile paper thats hundreds of years old or older eventualy finding out that magic once existed commonly along side pokemon some pokemon even beeingable to use magic and a diagram of the planet with 4 dots in a squar shape that form the 4 arcane nexus gates witch are now long since closed

valdederon-- odd if the arcane nexus gates are closed how can i still use magic.. could it be because my soul is conected to this world and my old world . ill have to research into it and this dark presence mentioned in the last 4 books.. its odd as well as if somthing evil is trying to pluncg the planeti into perril.

he uses his item box spell and puts evrything accept the staff in it and begins to search for an exit out of the ancient crypt eventualy finding his way out the sun now setting as he heads back to the guild furr dusty and matted from the fight and he walks up to the archives slowly and exaustivly knocking on the door to see if vex is awake to wicth she opens the door with a groggy smikle

vex--- you look like a ryhorn ran ya over.. whats up kid

valdederon--- stumbled into a crypt full of gollems and found some books for you they need to be restored and such they are evrry dellicate.. i had to use psychic just to read them they are on the verge of becoming dust.

she smiles and heads inside with valdederon and he uses psychic to pull the books out of his item box and gingerly sets them on her work table.

vex--- aint seen parchment like this in a good thousand years or so. these books are verry valuable good on you for not touching them ill get to work right away.. ill give ya some coin for them so you

valdederon shakes his head

valdederon---ive got all i wanted from them plus there were other treasures in the crypt to so i can pay back the guild for the mess i caused awhile back.. im sure the guild could also do some shopping to .

he heads to the guild masters quarters were he still sleeps and smiles when kleo and tiga both growl alittle

kleo---were have you been

taiga--- why is your furr a mess

valdederon--- kind of got stuck in a crypt while i was exploring the forrest abit might have alos melted a few gollems as well but i also came back with books for the archives and some treasuers for the guild

they sigh and chuckle at the explanation.

taiga-- well go get cleaned up and then in the morning we can look at what you got for the guild

valdederon--- i found more then just the treasures.. i found questions and more info about this world.. old secrets this world used to have magic but the sources of the magic have been closed off. tomorrow ill deposit the treasures in the guild treasury and head to the training hall im more determined now to be a pheonix hawk there are lots of questions that need answers.

he heads to the bathing hall and gets cleaned up and then comes back laying down and promptly passing out snoring deeply.

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genshin-impact-updates · 3 years

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Version 2.0 "The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia" Update Details(Part 2)

For Part 1, Click Here

V. New Quests

1. New Archon Quests

Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act I - The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia"

Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act II - "Stillness, the Sublimation of Shadow"

◇ Beidou's Crux Fleet is almost done with their supply and preparation work in Liyue. As promised, the fleet is ready to take you through the thunderstorms to Inazuma.

The Traveler never stops for long. Now is as good a time as any to embrace destiny and set sail for the land engulfed by storm and tempest... The nation of "eternity"!

◆ Archon Quests "Chapter II: Act I - The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia" and "Chapter II: Act II - Stillness, the Sublimation of Shadow" will be permanently available after the Version 2.0 update.

◆ Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act I - The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia" Unlock Criteria:

• Adventure Rank 30 or above

• Complete the Archon Quest "Chapter II: Prologue - Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves"

◆ Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act II - Stillness, the Sublimation of Shadow" Unlock Criteria:

• Adventure Rank 30 or above

• Complete the Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act I - The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia"

• Complete the Kamisato Ayaka Story Quest "Grus Nivis Chapter: Act I - The Whispers of the Crane and the White Rabbit"

• Complete the Yoimiya Story Quest "Carassius Auratus Chapter: Act I - Dreamlike Timelessness"

After the Version 2.0 update, the Unlock Criteria for certain quests will be adjusted as follows:

● The Unlock Criteria for Archon Quest Chapter I: Act II will be adjusted to Adventure Rank 25 or above (originally Adventure Rank 29 or above)

● The Unlock Criteria for Archon Quest Chapter I: Act III will be adjusted to Adventure Rank 28 or above (originally Adventure Rank 35 or above)

● The Unlock Criteria for World Quest "Bough Keeper: Dainsleif" will be adjusted to Adventure Rank 28 or above (originally Adventure Rank 36 or above)

● The Unlock Criteria for Archon Quest Chapter I: Act IV will be adjusted to Adventure Rank 28 or above (originally Adventure Rank 36 or above)

*Of which, the level of monsters in Archon Quest Chapter I: Act II will be adjusted to Lv. 30 (originally Lv. 35). The rest of the adjustments made are adjustments to the player's Adventure Rank for the Quest Unlock Criteria, while other Unlock Criteria and quest rewards remain unchanged.

2. New Story Quests

Kamisato Ayaka's Story Quest "Grus Nivis Chapter: Act I - The Whispers of the Crane and the White Rabbit"

Yoimiya's Story Quest "Carassius Auratus Chapter: Act I - Dreamlike Timelessness"

◆ "Grus Nivis Chapter" and "Carassius Auratus Chapter" will be permanently available after the Version 2.0 update

◆ "Grus Nivis Chapter" and "Carassius Auratus Chapter" Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Adventure Rank 30 or above

• Complete the Archon Quest "Chapter II: Act I - The Immovable God and the Eternal Euthymia"

*The "Grus Nivis Chapter" and "Carassius Auratus Chapter" Story Quests will not require a Story Key to unlock.

3. New World Quests

◆ New World Quests: "The Art of Horticulture," "Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual," "A Strange Story in Konda," "Sacrificial Offering," "Hayashi of Tanuki in the Forest," "Cleansing Defilement," "Yougou Cleansing"

"The Farmer's Treasure," "Hiromi's Watch," "Gourmet Supremos, Assemble!," "The Gourmet Supremos: The Seashore Strider," "The Gourmet Supremos: The Deep Divers," "The Seventh Samurai," "Tatara Tales," "Sakura Arborism," "Dreams of Sword Art," "Orobashi's Legacy," "Fate of a Fighter," "Gazing Three Thousand Miles Away," "Treatment on the Island," "Sinister Instruction," "Yae Publishing House's Invitation," "Chisato's Letter," "O Archon, Have I Done Right?," "International Travel Log," "Home Lies Over the Ocean," "In Another Land," "Battle of Revenge," "The Gourmet Supremos: The Importance of Eating Well," "The Gourmet Supremos: On the Road," "Pizza From Another Land," and "The Ritou Road."

VI. New Monsters

Pyro Hypostasis

◇ Elemental creatures who protect themselves from incoming attack with their durable shell.

Has two states: Ignited and Extinguished. Extinguishing it with the right elemental reactions will give you an opportunity to strike.

Located at Kannazuka

Perpetual Mechanical Array

◇ A strange, alien machine.

They say that it is a war machine left behind by a nation that has already been destroyed. Composed of several different parts, it can adapt to its combat environment and employ a variety of attacks. It can even split and summon several different kinds of Ruin Sentinels.

Located at Narukami Island

Nobushi: Jintouban, Nobushi: Hitsukeban, Nobushi: Kikouban, Kairagi: Fiery Might, Kairagi: Dancing Thunder

◇ Samurai who have fallen into banditry.

They possess highly advanced martial art skills but use these well-honed skills for banditry, making them dangerous enemies.

Ruin Cruiser, Ruin Destroyer, Ruin Defender, Ruin Scout

◇ Various bizarrely-shaped machines that have taken different forms and functions.

Legend has it that they were war machines left behind by a nation that has now been destroyed. The design of these ruin machines has greater value in the study of biomimesis than the more common Ruin Guards.

Fatui - Mirror Maiden

◇ A Fatui mage from Snezhnaya who can command a Hydro Mirror in battle.

Willing to do anything to achieve their goals, they are the stark opposite of the dignity indicated by the title "Maiden." They definitely will not let their prey escape from the Hydro Mirror created from a Delusion.

In addition, monsters such as Electro Hilichurl Grenadier, Electro Samachurl, Crackling Axe Mitachurl, Electro Abyss Mage, Thunderhelm Lawachurl, and Electro Whopperflower have been added.

VII. Other Additions

● Gameplay

1. New Special Weapon Wish Mechanic — Epitomized Path

· Once you have charted a course towards your chosen weapon, you will obtain 1 Fate Point upon receiving a 5-star weapon that is not the one that you chose. You can obtain a maximum of 2 Fate Points.

· Once you have accumulated enough Fate Points, your next 5-star weapon will be the one you chose through "Epitomized Path."

· Your Fate Points will be reset upon obtaining an "Epitomized Path" weapon during this "Epitome Invocation."

· If you do not choose a weapon, wishes will not accumulate Fate Points.

· You can change or cancel your selection. This will reset your accumulated Fate Points.

· When this "Epitome Invocation" ends, your accumulated Fate Points will also be reset.

2. Adventurer Handbook - The Commission Quests: Region Selection feature has been added for commissions

3. New Gadgets:

Seed Dispensary: A special container obtained from Madame Ping. According to her, this dispensary has the power to "generate seeds"... That is to say, it can create the seeds of various plants according to their special traits, which can then be planted within the appropriate fields within your Serenitea Pot.

Red Feather Fan: Use this to increase Gliding Movement SPD by 30% for 30s.

Electroculus Resonance Stone: A stone that can be used in Inazuma to search for nearby Electroculi.

Electro Treasure Compass: A handy tool used to locate nearby chests in Inazuma.

Memento Lens: A mysterious lens. If you view small fox statues with this lens, you can find things that were not there before.

Mini Seelie: Viola: A memento from the Lost Riches event. Equip it to obtain a mini Seelie companion.

Artifact Strongbox: Gladiator's Finale, Artifact Strongbox: Wanderer's Troupe, Artifact Strongbox: Bloodstained Chivalry, Artifact Strongbox: Noblesse Oblige

4. New Crafting Bench Function - Mystic Offering

Consume a certain amount of 5-Star Artifacts to craft an Artifact Strongbox that contains a 5-Star Artifact

5. New Riches of the Realm and Creatures of the Realm added in the Realm Depot: Redeem the Furnishings "A Path of Value: Luxuriant Glebe," "A Path of Value: Orderly Meadow," "A Path of Value: Jade Field," "Sub-Space Waypoint" from the Riches of the Realm. Exchange seeds and other materials obtained through the Seed Dispensary from the Creatures of the Realm.

6. New Recipes:

○ Inazuma Shimura's: Egg Roll, Mixed Yakisoba, Miso Soup, Tonkotsu Ramen

○ Inazuma Kiminami Restaurant: Tuna Sushi, Tricolor Dango, Tri-Flavored Skewer

○ Street Food Stall: Dry-Braised Salted Fish

○ Complete the World Quest series "Gourmet Supremos" to obtain: Onigiri, Sashimi Platter, Sakura Tempura, and Crab Roe Kourayaki

○ Complete the World Quest "Gazing Three Thousand Miles Away" to obtain: Imported Poultry

○ Obtain the following from the Inazuma Reputation System: Konda Cuisine, Rice Cake Soup, and Butter Crab

○ Complete the Kamisato Ayaka Story Quest to obtain: Sakura Mochi

○ Kamisato Ayaka's specialty: Snow on the Hearth

○ Kaedehara Kazuha's specialty: All-Weather Beauty

○ Yoimiya's specialty: Summer Festival Fish

○ Sayu's specialty: Dizziness-Be-Gone no Jutsu Version 2.0

7. New Achievements such as "Mortal Travails: Series II," "Challenger: Series IV," "Meetings in Outrealm: Series II," "A Realm Beyond: Series III," "Inazuma: The Islands of Thunder and Eternity - Series I," and additions to the "Wonders of the World" category

8. New Namecards:

○ "Inazuma: Sacred Sakura": Reach Sacred Sakura's Favor Level 48 to obtain.

○ "Travel Notes: Grand Narukami Shrine": Reward obtained via the BP system.

○ "Kamisato Ayaka: Folding Fan": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Kamisato Ayaka

○ "Yoimiya: Auratus Spark": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Yoimiya

○ "Sayu: Muji-Muji Daruma": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Sayu

○ "Inazuma: Kamisato Crest": Reward for reaching Reputation Lv. 4 (Inazuma)

○ "Inazuma: Raiden Emblem": Reward for reaching Reputation Lv. 7 (Inazuma)

○ "Achievement: Gate": Reward for completing all achievements under "Meetings in Outrealm: Series II"

○ "Achievement: Traversal": Reward for completing all achievements under "Mortal Travails: Series II"

○ "Achievement: Stone Dragon": Reward for completing all achievements under "Challenger: Series IV"

○ "Achievement: Full Bloom": Reward for completing all achievements under "A Realm Beyond: Series III"

○ "Inazuma: Kujou Insignia": Reward for completing all achievements under "Inazuma: The Islands of Thunder and Eternity - Series I"

○ "Celebration: Wondrous Calculation": Obtained from the "Theater Mechanicus: Stage of Wonders" event

9. New Animals: Pale Red Crab, General Crab, Violet Ibis, Marrow Lizard, Crow, Kitsune, Bake-Danuki, Electro Crystalfly

10. New Materials:

○ Yumemiru Wood: Cut a Sakura Tree down to obtain

○ Maple Wood: Cut an Amur Maple down to obtain

○ Aralia Wood: Cut an Inazuman Cedar down to obtain

○ Otogi Wood: Cut a Otogi Tree down to obtain

11. Spiral Abyss:

Updated the monster lineup on Floors 9 – 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

Floor 9 Ley Line Disorder changed to:

• A Plasma Field will be generated at the edge of the challenge area once the challenge begins. While within the field, characters will be hit by a lightning strike once every 5s and take Electro DMG. The area covered by the field will gradually expand as the challenge proceeds.

Floor 10 Ley Line Disorder changed to:

• There will be a Leader amongst the opponents present in each challenge on this floor. Its Attendants will also be present to provide it with enhancements and protection. Each Attendant will increase the Leader's Element RES and Physical RES by 10%. The Attendants will restore the Leader's HP every 12s, with each Attendant restoring 5% HP. When there are no Attendants, the Leader will not have any of the above enhancement and restoration effects.

Floor 11 Ley Line Disorders changed to:

• Pyro DMG dealt by all party members increased by 60%.

• Cryo DMG dealt by all party members increased by 60%.

Floor 12 Ley Line Disorders changed to:

• Energy Tides are present in this challenge. They will switch between Elemental High Tide and Elemental Low Tide in 10s cycles.

• During High Tide, a large amount of Elemental Particles will be generated when a character's attack hits opponents, restoring 10 Elemental Energy. This effect can occur once every 2.8s.

• During Low Tide, all characters in the party cannot gain Elemental Energy.

Starting from the first time that the Lunar Phase refreshes after updating to Version 2.0, the three Lunar Phases will be as follows：

Phase 1: Shattering Moon

When an active character's Elemental Energy is fully charged, the DEF of opponents hit by the character's Normal, Charged or Plunging Attacks will be decreased by 7% for 10 seconds. Max 5 stacks. Each stack has an independent duration.

Phase 2: Brimful Moon

When an active character obtains an Elemental Orb or Elemental Particle, the character will unleash a shockwave that deals DMG to surrounding opponents. This kind of shockwave can be unleashed once every 4s.

Phase 3: Stalwart Moon

After unleashing an Elemental Burst, the ATK of every character in the party will be increased by 20% for 10s. Max 3 stacks. Each stack has an independent duration.

● Audio

1. Adds voice lines that will trigger when a character is at low HP.

2. Adds Japanese voice-over for some characters.

● Character

Adds new character combat voice-overs under characters' Profile > Voice-Over

● System

1. Adds some prompts for loading screens

2. Adds Barbara's outfit "Summertime Sparkle" to the Outfit Shop.

[Part 3 will be posted in a few minutes.]

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #official #genshin impact news #genshin impact 2.0 #there's a part 3??? guess that's how you know this is a big one

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aboutanancientenquiry · 3 years

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On Herodotus and Egypt (VII : phoenix, woolen garments, and a very comical proof of the ignorance of the most vociferous among the tumblr egyptologists)

In this post I will continue the examination of specific accusations of the same group of tumblr egyptologists against Herodotus.

1/ The Phoenix

@kaiyves has asked @rudjedet some time ago :

“Is Herodotus’s description of the Phoenix dying and being reborn on an altar to the sun god reflective of real Egyptian myths about the bennu bird?”

@rudjedet ‘s reply is too long to be reproduced here, but I give the link for it :

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/rudjedet/650459075563470848

I only remark that, very exceptionally, @rudjedet keeps in this case her composure and does not have outbursts of anger, as it is usually the case when she hears the cursed name of Herodotus.

So, the truth is that it is not a typical anti-Herodotus indictment that we have here, but I will discuss the topic of the phoenix because of its interest.

First of all, I will reproduce here the tale of the phoenix as narrated by Herodotus, because of its beauty (2.73) :

“ But there is another sacred bird called the phoenix. I myself have not seen it, except in paintings, for it rarely visits Egypt ; indeed, the people of Heliopolis say that it comes only once 500 years. [2] They claim that a phoenix visits them when its father has died. The paintings, if they are accurate, depict a bird in shape and size very much like an eagle, with both golden and red feathers. [3] They also say, though it seems incredible to me, that when the phoenix sets out from Arabia toward the sanctuary of Helios, it carries the corpse of its own father plastered up in myrrh and buries it there in the sanctuary. [4] Thus it transports its father, but in order to do that, it first shapes some myrrh into an egg as heavy as it can carry. It then attempts to fly with it and keeps adjusting the size of the egg until its weight is just right. Then the phoenix hollows out the egg and places the body of its father inside it. It fills in the gap thus created with additional myrrh, so that when its father is laid within, the egg weighs the same as before. When the egg is completely plastered shut, the phoenix carries it to Egypt to the sanctuary of Helios. At least that is what they claim about this bird.”

Alan Lloyd comments on this chapter (”A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV” of D. Asheri-A. Lloyd-A. Corcella, Oxford University Press 2007, p. 287-289) :

“...the classical phoenix legend, which evolved with the addition of evermore fantastic elements in antiquity, must be seen as a Greek reworking of Egyptian mythology. In Egyptian myth the bnw was associated with the primeval hill, the source of all created things, and, as such, was frequently regarded as the manifestation of Re-Atum, the great creator-god of Heliopolis. It was also associated at Heliopolis with the isd-tree, on whose leaves were allegedly recorded great events as royal accessions, an association which led to a connection with the passing of time...The Greeks speak of the phoenix as early as the Hesiodic corpus...and by the 5th cent. had introduced into the legend the concept of a cyclic return, the bird’s brilliant colouring, the connection with Arabia, the ball of incense, and the relationship with its father, much of which may have its seeds in Egyptian sources but does not appear there explicitly. Subsequent additions include, in particular, the idea that it underwent periodic rebirth by being consumed by fire and reborn from it, and the concept that it was eternal...

[on Herodotus’ description of the bird] The Egyptian bnw never looks like this...Traditions on its splendid plumage become even more baroque until the phoenix comes to resemble a peacock. It could also be identified with the eagle.

...the classical phoenix circle is normally given as 500 years, but other totals do occur...In Egyptian mythology the bnw has several connections with time, but no such cycle is ever mentioned. Clearly we are confronted with an example of Greek reworking.

...the phoenix is frequently related to myrrh, a substance associated by Egyptians and Greeks with the East...

...the egg often features as a symbol of birth/rebirth in Egyptian mythology. There is even a representation of a bnw emerging from one...”

So, it seems that @rudjedet is right here that Herodotus’ tale on the phoenix does not correspond to the traditional Egyptian myth on the bnw bird.

Her only mistake is that she attributes to Herodotus a periodic return of the phoenix every 50 years, whereas Herodotus says that his Egyptian sources had told him about a visit of the phoenix to Egypt every 500 years.

For the rest, Herodotus believes, on the basis of what is told from his Egyptian (Heliopolitean) informants, that the phoenix is a real bird, although he clarifies that he has seen it only in pictures and that he finds “incredible” the story that he narrates about the travel of the bird carrying the body of his parent in an egg of myrrh from Arabia to Heliopolis to bury it there.

The essential is that it seems that Herodotus says in this chapter that his Egyptian sources had told him a story about the phoenix which is essentially a version of the Greek reworking of the Egyptian myth of bnw.

It seems also that a similar story had been told to the Greek geographer and ethnographer Hecataeus of Miletus, who had visited Egypt some 60 years before Herodotus (Lloyd, op. cit., p. 288).

How should we interpret all this ?

Should we understand that the Greek version of the myth of the phoenix is much more closely linked to an evolution of the bnw myth in the Egypt of the Late Period than what is generally thought ?

Or that priests and interpreters offered to their Greek visitors an “hellenized” version of the myth, probably in order to underscore the dependence of the Greeks on Egypt concerning mythology ?

Or perhaps that Herodotus has misinterpreted what he has been told by the priests and the interpreters, under the influence of the Greek version of the myth and what he had read in Hecataeus ?

Or the truth would lie in a combination of all these explanations ?

I just ask these questions and I leave to others, more qualified than me on these matters, to formulate the possible answers to them.

But I don’t find in the Phoenix story anything which would back the accusations of “lying” against Herodotus or more generally the anti-Herodotus obsessions of the tumblr egyptologists...

2/ Woolen garments

Here we enter again the field of pure polemics and of anti-Herodotus “crusade”.

In her second reply to me (back then as agreekstrangerpolitical), thatlittleegyptologist clarified ( https://thatlittleegyptologist.tumblr.com/post/635303317399027712/whats-ur-take-on-herodotus-being-a-fuckwad ) what is for her one of the main crimes of Herodotus, which disqualify him totally as a serious source on ancient Egypt :

“Herodotus states that the Egyptians didn’t wear wool or products from living animals because it was “unclean”. Again, false. The Egyptians wore woollen wigs, and socks made of wool are also found”.

thatlittleegyptologist had already devoted a whole post on this specific topic ( https://thatlittleegyptologist.tumblr.com/post/173415962764/hi-i-was-googling-ancient-egyptian-clothing-when ), answering an anon ask on clothing in ancient Egypt.

The anon ask was :

“Hi! I was googling Ancient Egyptian clothing when I came across this tidbit on Wikipedia: "Wool was known, but considered impure. Only the wealthy wore animal fibers that were the object of taboos. They were used on occasion for overcoats, but were forbidden in temples and sanctuaries." Do you know if that's true? I think that's pretty interesting, if so ! “

After a quick search, thatlitleegyptologist discovered the source of these pernicious claims and she exclaimed :

“IT’S FUCKING HERODOTUS”

to continue, after a quote from an on line source on this topic that she found misleading :

“ Oh. My. No

I mean the Egyptians did wear linen and papyrus (more often palm frond and here’s a British Museum article on shoes) sandals, but the rest of it is pretty much complete horseshit.

Let’s start with ‘no products of living animals must be worn in an Egyptian temple’ and then obliterate it with the following images:”

(follow some pictures apparently from the Egypt of the New Kingdom).

thatlittleegyptologist was not able to withhold anymore her righteous indignation against the distortions of the Greek liar from Halicarnassus, with as result the following explosion :

“Fuck you Herodotus, the leopard skin is literally part of the uniform for an Egyptian priest as evidenced by the Egyptians themselves.”

As she elaborated :

“Everywhere I’ve looked I can only find people citing Herodotus as the sole source for this. I can find nothing from Pharaonic Egypt that says that wool was impure. I’d be willing to be corrected on this if someone can find something from an Egyptian source that states that wool was impure, but so far as I can see it really isn’t.”

But at least she offered some explanation for the misinformation Herodotus provides :

I mean, you’ll get some wool off these sheep but Egypt is a hot climate and I can’t imagine many Egyptians wanting to wear wool when it’s 43C (109F) outside. As far as I can tell Sheep’s wool is used mainly for spinning into thread to hold linen pieces together and also for fly swats to get rid of flies or some ceremonial equipment like a flail. It doesn’t gain any form of widespread usage until the Ptolemaic era, which would explain why Herodotus would be all ‘hey look at these dumb Egyptians. Won’t even wear wool because it’s ‘unclean’ what idiots’.

And thatlittleegyptologist concludes this particular post with the following very scholarly and deep remark, that I have already quoted in the Part I of my text on Herodotus and Egypt :

“In summary: If Herodotus was alive today I’d make him my bitch for making me constantly have to disprove his bullshit”

Now, let us see what Herodotus writes on this topic, first of all about the garments of the Egyptian priests (2.37,3) :

“Their priests wear only linen garments and sandals made of papyrus ; they are not permitted to acquire any other kinds of garments or sandals.”

And about the clothing of the Egyptians in general (2.81,1) :

“They wear linen tunics they call kalasiris, which are fringed with tassels around their legs. Over these garments they drape white woolen cloaks. When they enter sanctuaries or when they are buried, however, they never wear wool, for to do so would offend their religious sensibility.”

The first thing that I think it must be clarified is that thatliitleegyptologist is totally wrong when she sees in such passages the expression of a snubbing and dismissing attitude of Herodotus toward the Egyptians (” Herodotus would be all ‘hey look at these dumb Egyptians. Won’t even wear wool because it’s ‘unclean’ what idiots’, as she says).

In fact 2.37,3 and 2.81,1 should be read in the light of 2.37,1, which tells about the Egyptians :

‘Of all peoples, they are the most exceedingly pious, with customs like this :”

And what follows in chapter 2.37 is a series of customs proving the piety of Egyptians and stressing the purity and cleanliness that the Egyptian people and especially the Egyptian priests observe in their relations to the gods.

There is nothing dismissive and sarcastic here, the totaly opposite is true, given that Herodotus himself is a pious man, although not uncritically.

But, as we have seen, thatlittleegyptologist and the rest of her friends have no grasp of Book II as a whole and, therefore, they interpret isolated passages in fanciful ways and on the basis of their prejudices against Herodotus.

To return to the passages from 2.37,3 and 2.81,1 that I have quoted, W.G. Waddell reports (in “Herodotus Book II”, Bristol Classical Press 1998 [first edition Methuen & Co Ltd, 1939], p. 158-159) that :

“in a papyrus from the Fayum, dated AD 159-160, “A Complaint against a Priest” (B.G.U. I. 1611 ) a charge is brought against a priest of “letting his hair grow long and wearing woollen garments”...”

and he comments on 2.37.3 (p. 160) that :

“wollen garments were forbidden because wool is more liable to harbour vermin...and is “refuse-growth from a sluggish body...”

comparing also this Egyptian custom with the linen garments of the Jewish priests mentioned in the Exodus.

From his part, Alan Lloyd comments on 2.37,3 (in “A Commentary...” of Asheri-Lloyd-Corcella, p. 264 ) :

“Woollen garments were absolutely forbidden to priests in the Graeco-roman period...Papyrus sandals are known, but there is no pharaonic evidence that priests had to wear them.”

and on 2.81,1 (op. cit., p. 295-296) :

“ Woolen garments were absolutely forbidden to priests in the Hellenistic and Roman periods on grounds of impurity...There is no specific confirmation from earlier times, but Herodotus’ claim is entirely credible in the light of the strict provisions for priestly purity described in ch. 37″

And concerning the prohibition of burying people with woolen garments reported by Herodotus, Lloyd comments (ibid) :

“examples [my- aboutanancientenquiry’s- note : of people wearing woolen garments] occur in graves, but they are exceedingly uncommon...The association of wool with ritual impurity will explain this taboo (see above)”

Now, Herodotus did not have prophetic abilites, so he could not have foreseen what religious taboo the Egyptian priests of the Hellenistic and Roman periods of the Egyptian history would observe centuries after his death and report them.

Therefore, we should consider that he reported what he observed, at least as a tendency.

Moreover, it would be erroneous to consider that the taboo concerning the prohibition for priests to wear woolen garments would have been imported to Egypt by Greeks in the Ptolemaic period and that Herodotus make the Egyptian priests observe a Greek taboo, as it does not seem that the Greeks had such a taboo concerning woolen garments.

And let’s not forget that between the era of Tutankhamun, from which come the pictures with priests wearing leopard skins presented by thatlittleegyptologist, and the time of Herodotus’ visit to Egypt, almost 900 years had passed, a period of time in which many things had changed in Egypt.

More generally, it would be wrong to see Egypt as a society and culture “eternal” and impermeable to change, although this is a view that Egyptians of the Late Period, Greeks, and Romans often held.

To conclude, once more there is no “gotcha moment”, no moment in which Herodotus would have been caught lying.

Herodotus gives one more time an information which is “entirely credible”, in the light of the Egyptian exigencies of priestly purity and of the attested historical evolution of the Egyptian religious practices.

And the tumblr egyptologists are again wrong in their attacks against him.

3/ The very comical blunder and proof of ignorance of @somecunttookmyurl

A blogger with the username lapetasse (who has now deactivated) asked some months ago @somecunttookmyurl , the very distinguished tumblr scholar with the “Fuck Herodotus’ title of blog and merchandise, the following incredible question :

“Who is herodotus and why should I hate him”

After some antics, @somecunttookmyurl gave a reply on why one should ‘hate’ (!) Herodotus (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/somecunttookmyurl/640682640343695360 ),

in which there is the following paragraph (I have made bold the letters of the words of the phrase which is important for my point) :

“The main problem with Herodotus, apart from apparently smoking crack, is that a lot of people still consider him a legitimate source for anything he didn’t directly witness which is how a lot of insane myths about egypt (they coated servants in honey as fly traps! they chaved off their eyes when cats died!) still come to be perpetuated. I guarantee, if there’s something batshit about Egypt and you try to trace it back you will eventually end up at Herodotus’ crack habit.”

So, according to @somecunttookmyurl, one among the “insane myths about Egypt” still “come to be perpetuated” because “a lot of people consider him [Herodotus] a legitimate source” would be that “they [the Egyptians] coated servants in honey as fly traps”...

The only problem with this is that...Herodotus does not report anywhere anything like this!

There is nothing about Egyptian servants being coated with honey and used as fly traps in Book II or elsewhere in Herodotus’ “Histories”.

I repeat : nothing.

On the contrary, what I found on the net is that this story about the servants, the honey, and the flies is of Egyptian origin and is connected with the name of Pharaoh Pepi II of the Old Kingdom (reigned 2284-2216 or ca 2184 BCE).

Therefore, it has nothing to do with Herodotus, who more generaly does not seem to know anything about this specific Pharaoh.

I think that the contrast between on the one hand @somecunttookmyurl ‘s fanaticism, aggressiveness, and sweeping and peremptory assertions against Herodotus, and on the other hand her ignorance about him, as shown in the story with the flies and the servants, is really comical, especially if one thinks that in the same post @somecunttookmyurl talks about “Herodotus’ crack habit” and characterizes Herodotus’ ‘Histories” “a work of comedy” that unfortunately cannot be treated as such because “some people still think it is legitimate”!

Moreover, what it becomes clear from this story with the alleged use of servants as fly-traps that she attributes to Herodotus, is that she has never read “Histories” and more particularly Book II on Egypt, against which she campaigns with such vehemence and vulgarity.

It seems that she has included in her anti-Herodotus arsenal this story with honey-coated servants being allegedly used as fly-traps just on the basis of a reasoning of the type that not only what Herodotus has written on Egypt would be (in her own terms) “batshit”, but also that whatever misinformation or information of suspect reliability (like the story with the servants being used as fly-traps) is circulating about ancient Egypt must absolutely have its origin in Herodotus!

But what credibility could have the “crusade” of a person against a work that she has not read and toward which she has such prejudices?

And what “scholarly” credibility such mentalities and attitudes could claim?

I add that, if the esteemed tumblr colleagues of @somecunttookmyurl had read Herodotus, they would have observed discreetly to her that she is wrong about this particular story, that Herodotus has no relation with it, and that she should stop to make a fool our of herself by attributing to Herodotus things that he has never written.

But it seems that utter ignorance of Herodotus’ work is common more generally among the anti-Herodotus tumblr egyptologists.

Not of course that one should be surprised to see once more ignorance and fanaticism going hand in hand...

#herodotus #ancient egypt #phoenix #wool #thatlittleegyptologist #somecunttookmyurl

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magic5ball · 3 years

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Nature Trail to Hell Arc IV: Megamart of Darkness (10)

Chapter 10: Bokrug vs. A-Bomb vs. Watt! Ultimate Deathmatch!!!

Despite having only golf clubs, A-Bomb was fearless. A reckless sort of fearlessness that leads one to charge a 25 pound, machine gun toting mass of unadulterated avian fury.

A fearlessness that would only make sense if your opponent was playing right into your hands.

“Bokrug! Look out!”

By the time the last word left my mouth, it was too late. A-Bomb teed off on Bokrug’s jaw, sending the gander flying. The machine gun clattered to the ground, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. All that was left was for A-Bomb to start teeing off on Bokrug’s downed carcass, which he gleefully did. Repeatedly. And it looked very painful, so painful it scared me out of mini golf for life. Even so much as touching a club gives me memories of the poor goose’s gasps of pain.

“Please, my child.” He begged “You may have fallen far, but the kind, innocent boy I once knew is still in there. I can feel it!”

“Really? Because my internet history says otherwise!”

If Bokrug wasn’t getting hit before, now he’d been reduced to the world’s downiest piñata. And yours truly could only watch helplessly as his physical form looked like it was gonna explode into a million bloody pieces any second, too glued to my seat (literally) to do anything. Or was I? Because A-Bomb had only glued the bottom of my seat. If I could only wriggle out of my pants…

Gotta give credit to Bokrug: he held out much longer than I thought he would. But even dinosaurs fall with enough beating, and before long A-Bomb was standing triumphantly over his kill like some African big game hunter. Right as I was able to slip out of my pants. Though when you consider I was wearing my pachyrhinosaurus underwear, the exact same smelly pair I’d been wearing since I’d left camp, this may have made my problem much, much worse.

A-Bomb laughed loud and deep at the sight, his face turning a deep red. This must have gone on for several minutes, him constantly on the verge of chortling his lungs out, myself too strawberry red to move. Then, once he’d spit out enough chuckles to speak again:

“A-are you kidding me?!“He pointed at me like some schoolyard bully. “Of all the dinosaurs you get monogramed on your underwear, you chose the NERD one?!”

I breathed deep. “Pachyrhinosauus is an amazing and criminally underrated member of the ceratopsian clade! In addition, it is woefully underrepresented in museu-”

A-Bomb thought that was a regular knee slapper.

“Kid, everyone knows the only reason they throw Pachyrhinosaurus in museums is so they can reach their diversity quotas! Yy-you are such a pathetic NERD!” Another fit of laughter later, he added “I-I can’t kill you like this!”

He snapped his fingers, summoning a legion of brown bagger clones armed with those dumb laser scanners to circle us.

“How about this? For making me laugh, I’ll let you escape! Heck, I’ll throw in a 30 second head start, free of charge!”

The Brown Baggers joined their master’s jeering, lest they be sent to the unemployment line (AKA Pete’s Slaughterhouse). Speaking of the Master, he pulled a bottle of Crystal Springs Water from his khakis and began chugging like he’d hadn’t drunk in a week, the power coursing through his veins.

I should have run, run like the pathetic wimp I was. But I didn’t. Because at the end of the day, you can steal sacred water from roleplaying geese. You can threaten to turn me into a corporate slave. You can bludgeon a close friend of mine within an inch of his life with and force me to watch. Heck, you can even force me to watch Carney the dinosaur sixty hours straight if you wanna! But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, makes fun of my pachyrhinosaurus underpants and lives to see the next sunrise!

Instead, I dashed for my pants, thirty seconds ticking away fast. Ten seconds in, I was pulling the packet of grow dinosaurs from my pocket. Another ten I got the stupid wrapping off.

Nine…

I remembered what Bokrug had said about the water, how it was enchanted and whatnot.

Eight…

Problem was, I had no idea where the real water was. The only one I knew was the real deal was being held by A-Bomb, and I sure wasn’t getting there.

Seven…

Unless… I looked at the sad water fountain, spurting alone between two shelves. Maybe the water of the sacred spring wasn’t in a bottle at all.

Six…

I concentrated. No going back now. No regrets…

Five…

A red pill rocketed through the air, a glorious, million dollar shot. A million glowing red darts marked themselves on me.

Four…

Three seconds. Four tense, terrible seconds of that pill riding the wind, right to the rim of the water fountain, teetering on the edge until, at last, the Luck of the Tostigs pulled through, and that baby went right down the drain.

Three, two…

Something pushed out from inside the water fountain, something BIG!

One…

Shrapnel exploded from where the water fountain had once been as a giant sponge triceratops burst out, alien style. The beast charged, plowing down brown baggers like they were blades of grass. As for A-Bomb, he didn’t even get a chance to set a stupid expression on his face before he was reduced to a red stain on the tile floor. And from where that water fountain once stood, the sacred spring gushed forth, coating the rest of the little sponge grow capsules, turning them to life-size dinosaurs. Not missing a beat, I hopped on the triceratops, and gave it a little bit of Tostig family advice:

“CHAAAARRRRGGGGGGEEEEEE!”

And boy howdy, did we! With a bellow that shook the foundations of the Wegmart, the triceratops launched fifty employees so high they left little brown bagger shaped holes in the ceiling! Heck, if I hadn’t used my toe claws to lodge myself in its’ skin, I might have been tossed into the next state!. Meanwhile, where the water of the Sacred Sprinng showered on Bokrug, he changed, wings becoming massive muscular arms, a wide sail growing on his back, his face becoming long and crocodilian, feathers became scales. A form I would recognize anywhere: Spinosaurus Aegyptus.

The brown baggers scattered. One dinosaur they could handle, but thirteen? Not a chance! Together, we watched the remaining five or so survivors flee into the stock room as we posed epically on a thousand foot mountain made of their corpses. Any that weren’t fast enough were picked up in Bokrug’s massive jaws and flipped up into the air, only to be swallowed whole like gingerbread pancakes! Our remaining troops, few as there were, flocked to join us.

We’d won.

The words felt weird on my lips, my brain still trying to grasp what just happened.

We’d won.

Yet I couldn’t deny it: somehow, we’d kicked out the most powerful company in Pennsylvania.

“WE’VE WON!”

Bokrug bellowed majestically into the air, his voice ancient and primeval The rest of the birds, dinosaurs, shopping carts, and whoever else was in our slapdash army joined in:

“WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!”

And they carried me out of the store on their wings like I was some kind of rock star.

. . .

That night, we partied. And by partied I mean set out the spoils of our war (snack chips and pretzels, mostly) while everyone stood awkwardly around the punch bowl, not knowing what to say (for guys who wore party hats all the time, LARP geese sure don’t know how to hold a conversation). Bokrug especially seemed interested in going to the little dino’s room and staying there a really long time. As for me, I stared into one of the barbeque fires we’d set around the place for lighting, plotting my next move. Hilda and whatever we’d put in Ms. Hoebag’s body were running the camp like a Siberian Gulag; in the middle of it all was my ticket back to reality, and by extension, my Gameboy Advance.

And, y’know, Mom was probably worried sick about me.

After half an hour of brisk walking, I found the bathroom door. I knocked twice.

“Bokrug, you in there?”

“My apologies,” bellowed the dinosaur, “but it seems as a final act of resistance, the minions of darkness burned all the toilet paper, so that we may never properly use their waste depository facilities.”

Sighing, I shoved some party napkins under the door.

“These do not seem to be the papers I seek. Are you certain these will work?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

One flush later, Bokrug barreled out, knocking the door off its’ hinges.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I replied, heading in myself.

Bokrug cocked his head to the side, the way birds do when they’re curious.

“And why would you leave paradise? With the waters of the Sacred Springs in our grasp, we shall soon surpass even the empire of Tako Shak in power!”

I shook my head, strategically positioning Mr. Weenie over the dung pit, letting loose. Bullseye. “Bok, I want to stay, but my Mom and Gameboy are at home, and I’m sure as heck my dirty rotten little brother isn’t going to give them company.”

The dinosaur could only stare in awed amazement as I epically exited the loo, piece of toilet paper attached to my shoe. “Long story short, I’m going to summer camp. Wanna join me?”

The dinosaur shook his crocodilian head. “While the idea of devouring communist elementary schoolers does pique my interest, my responsibilities are to my people. I cannot leave them leaderless at such an incredible time.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, feeling a little bit damped down. “There’ll be all the communist turds you can eat.”

“Watterson, you have helped me when I needed it most, but you have your family, and I must care for mine. Surely, you understand?”

And for the first time I thought about how I had left Hilda at summer camp. I wondered how she was holding on now that Shatner and I had left.

But before I could head on my way, the old water lizard had one last surprise in store for me. “However, there is one gift I can give you.”

Holding out a scaly hand, I saw the grow capsules I’d filched off Wegmart, now turned into tiny sponge dinosaurs that galloped across he palm.

“My apologies, they shrunk in the sun.”

You’d think I’d be upset, but I wasn’t worried. Not at all.

. . .

And so we went on our quest: me and twelve grow-sponge saurian mercenaries from hell. We walked along a dirt road for about twelve hours before, as luck would have it, along trundled a Systo delivery truck, the same kind that delivered the crap food to camp. Hitchhiking wasn’t as hard as I thought (having dinosaur claws makes you surprisingly persuasive!), and soon me and the dinosaurs were crammed into a cardboard box in the semitrailer.

And so I sat in the dark, curled up inside a cardboard box meant for Styrofoam containers trying to formulate the master plan to get my body back. And by formulate a master plan I mean trying not to laugh at the Spongeboy jokes that would randomly pop into my head and focus, darn it!

Instead, I found myself drifting to sleep as the truck rolled across the winding backroads leading to fate, to destiny, to the thing that had started this all…

Summer Camp.

(Okay, so maybe I started it all by putting firecrackers in Dad’s cereal, but hey, I wasn’t the one who forced a young, innocent mind to watch Barney the ‘Dinosaur’. ‘Shudder’)

Part IV: MegaMart of Darkness: End

(Author’s Note: To everyone who’s read this far: thank you for hanging with me all this time! It really does mean a lot to me! Anyways, as it stands, I’m not quite happy with the final arc, so I’ll be taking a month’s hiatus to maybe fine-tune it a little bit. Until then, thank you so much for staying with this story, and see you soon!)

#My writing #Nature Trail To Hell #bokrug #supermarket #geese #summer camp

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soreillia · 7 years

Text

FaL - Chapter IV-1: First Move

[[PREVIOUS CHAPTER - Okay this chapter kinda turned very long for one post-- so I cut the whole writing in half WHY IT END WITH CLIFFHANGER NOW oh well gonna submit the 2nd part in a few days]]

A few days later after the feast at Sacred’s mansion, the Royal Guard went to visit Prontera Church with the goal to gather more information about the Archbishop, who was terrorizing her best friend Reiru.

As she walked through the long corridor to inquire more details, she was greeted by several priests, who recognized her. She returned the greeting, but didn’t stay for any chat, being focused on visiting a certain priest.

“Lady Sacred, I see you have returned to our holy place. A pleasant surprise to see you doing well.”

Sacred stopped hearing the familiar female voice. “Miss… Teygja?” The armored woman turned her attention to the female Arch Bishop. She smiled at her being glad to see her. “It has been a long time, since I have seen you here.”

The female Arch Bishop was an older woman. She looked like being around 40-50 years. Unlike the usual Arch Bishop uniform, she was wearing armor. On her back were feathers attached, which made her look like she has wings. On her head she was wearing a valkyrie helmet. Her whole appearance almost made her look like a Valkyrie herself. Her long curly hair had shimmering silver color and her golden eyes made her look quite unusual.

“It is true, I just recently returned to Prontera from my pilgrimage in Hugel. You surely went through a lot Lady Sacred. May I asked what made you leave Prontera for quite a while?”

“I understand your worries, it might not be very usual for me to leave Prontera for such long time. I was appointed to a mission to Arunafeltz. An order directly from a member of the royal family. As noble family member from the family “von Creutz”, it is my duty to serve in such matters.”

“I do hope you did not neglected your duties as servant of Odin and your own mission given to you.” The Arch Bishop looked very stern at her as if she wanted to tell her that nothing else was any important in the world.

“This m-mission surely helped m-me-!” Sacred stammered, feeling very uncomfortable, wondering if the Archbishop just now was scolding her. She remained silent for a moment. Did she really do something wrong, she wondered. “...Since... I do think this journey made me stronger. It was a quite dangerous mission, which brought me into very challenging situations.”

“This is good to hear. Allow me to ask, can you fill me into more details of your journey, Lady Sacred? As your mentor, I am curious and would like to know more about your adventure.”

“Sure, I can tell more about my travel. It is quite a long story though.”

“As expected. Let us head to the office to talk and not disturb the silence.”

The Archbishop moved along the corridor until she reached a door leading to a side room. The room was used as an office by another priest and was currently empty. Both sat down on the chairs next to the office table.

“This is a more suitable place for us to chat. The silence inside the sanctuary must be respected. We do not want to disturb the people’s prayers.”

“I understand the importance, Miss Teygja. Very well… where should I start? I apologize the mission is quite classified, so I cannot go into deep details. However I was tasked to find a missing person and the lead was directing towards Arunafeltz and to be exact the town of Veins. So the journey started with travelling to Veins. I was not alone on my travel. I was accompanied by my student Vininji Rosenkranz. He is a Paladin, who still is lacking a lot of experience. As his mentor I saw the opportunity to give him extra training by taking him with me to Arunafeltz. To reach Veins, we first travelled to Rachel using the airship and afterwards took the route to Veins. As we reached the town we gathered more information about the missing person and gained another lead, which brought us to the Nameless Island. The island was quite easily reachable by boat. Using the boat at the small harbor, we went to Nameless Island to investigate for the mission. However we did not stay very long on this island, since we were overrun by Banshees, so we decided it would be more wise to fall back and ask for reinforcement at Veins. As we were looking for people, we met the Rune Midgardian group stationed at Veins. They were apparently also on an investigation at Nameless Island and asked my student and me to join their group. Being busy with my own mission, I had to decline. Nevertheless I saw it as good training for my student, so I approved of his willingness to join the group on their investigation. From there on we separated and I returned alone to Rachel to follow the traces of my mission’s target after gaining new information, so no further search at Nameless Island were necessary.”

“Your travel brought you to Nameless Island? I am quite intrigued you returned from your adventure on the island with only your student and you.” The Archbishop interrupted her talking, seeing how she talked a mile in a minute - not leaving any break.

“It was rough indeed. The travel back to Rachel was not easy either. We-- well my gryphon and I, were caught off guard by monsters, which injured my gryphon steed Kirikyu. I am glad we were not too far from the town, so I managed to bring the wounded gryphon to a stable, where she could be taken care off and recover. Meanwhile I had to continue my search for traces for my mission and got another lead, which brought me to an Ice Cave not far from Rachel. Ah, right! Something came up, so I didn’t go to Ice Cave directly. I lost something after some children distracted me, so I ended up searching for it around Freya’s Spring. Luckily my lost belonging was found by a Rune Knight. His name is Rhyzern Vergerald, he also became my travelling partner later on. I hope I can introduce him to you soon, Miss Teygja! So then we got into a little chat and since he was stationed at Rachel I asked him about the Ice Cave. He told me that the area got much more dangerous and there was a warning since a giant wolf beast called Atroce was roaming around the Rachel fields attacking travellers. He offered to accompany me to Ice Cave and I gladly accepted the help seeing how exploring such dangerous area was very foolish. Also since my gryphon was wounded I had no mount to travel faster through the area.”

“Hm… ‘Rhyzern Vergerald’…?” The Archbishop raised an eyebrow. “The areas around Arunafeltz are surely dangerous especially without the help of a priest.”

“Later on the same day, we left Rachel together on the back of the Rune Knight’s ferus to head to Ice Cave. However on the way we found a group of merchants being treated by the Atroce it was warned about. Seeing how these people were in need of help, I rushed between the group and the beast. While I battled the beast and drew the attention, Rhyzern managed to secure safety for the merchants. It was a very tough fight and the beast was winning the upperhand. It is thanks to Rhyzern’s abilities the worst was prevented. As he returned, he dashed towards the Atroce and plunged its head with his spear. The beast was knocked off its balance, which gave us time to escape. I took several wounds in this battle, so it was more wise to return to the town. He brought me back to Rachel to let my wounds be treated.”

“Oh? You surely went through a lot. I am glad you recovered, Lady Sacred. An Atroce is a powerful enemy.”

Sacred lowered her head remembering the scenes. She didn’t have any good memories when it came to the wolf beast. She remembered how she already lost an important partner to her in the past, who was killed by an Atroce. Even now she was not strong enough to stand against the monster.

“Even though I am a Royal Guard now and much more experienced than before… there is little I can do. With the wounds I took from this incidence I lost a lot of time to continue my mission. Days later we decided to give it another try and went to Ice Cave again. This time we also had an Archbishop with us for help. But our search did not bring any fruit. I suppose it was already too late and my target already disappeared somewhere else.”

“How unfortunate.” The Archbishop commented in a quiet monotone voice.

“I was not able to find any more clues about the new whereabouts for my mission. So several days later without any progress this was the point, where I had to admit I have failed my mission. Then after that I was set on my way back to Prontera….”

The feelings of guilt returned to her after her sentence. It was indeed true she returned back to Prontera, but not immediately. She was taking her time on purpose to report back. It was the very first very important mission given to her by a royal family member and she was so very excited and honored. She was working hard for the honor of the family “von Creutz”, but ended up returning with empty hands. In her eyes it was nothing like her to actually run from this responsibilities.

“Do not fret about the mission, Lady Sacred. Hearing about the challenges which awaited you on your mission isn’t it wonderful, you survived this ordeal?”

“Rhyzern saved me more than once, I surely am in his debt. Reason why I allowed him to accompany me back to Prontera and also accepted him as partner.”

“This partner of yours is also now staying in Prontera, hm?”

“I believe so. As we return to Prontera we separated, since he said he wanted to visit the knight guild very eagerly by his own. He was so very excited. I must explain, he is suffering from memory loss, so he was hoping to find more information about his past. I haven’t heard from him yet, so I hope he is doing well.”

“‘Memory loss’...? It surely sounds like a topic for me, knowing how I gather the lost sheeps blessed by Valkyrie, who also suffer from memory loss that comes from it. I am looking forward in meeting your partner, Lady Sacred.”

“Thank you, Miss Teygja.” Sacred was reminded of her very first meeting with the Archbishop Teygja. Back then she also had problems with her memories and very lost after her rebirth process until the clergy woman appeared and offered her help to get Sacred back to the path of a Crusader. More than 10 years have past since that day, but she was able to remember as if it just happened yesterday.

“There is no need to thank me, Lady Sacred.”

The Royal Guard wondered how long she was here chatting already. She remembered she did not come here to chat about her journey. She was here because she had to help her friend Reiru. It was a possibility her mentor Teygja could be a help though in this task. “I suppose I told pretty much everything from any importance that happened during my adventure. I came to Prontera Sanctuary today not to celebrate my return. It is because I am trying to find important information. Maybe you could help me, Miss Teygja? Is there anything you could tell me about the Archbishop Alexius Soleil? Any information would be helpful, I suppose.”

“...Archbishop Alexius Soleil?” The woman repeated the name wondering if she heard it right. “Allow me to ask the purpose for needing such information by a fellow clergy member, Lady Sacred.”

Sacred did not want to cause any uproar between the priests, so she wanted to keep her reason secret. Even though she was her mentor - a person she trusted - she had to be careful. “I heard he is quite popular among the priests and crusaders here in Prontera, so I wanted to get to know him in person. I had no chance yet to meet him.”

“He is an admirable young Archbishop. He is usually seen with High Priestess Miryai Solcieldis. But Lady Sacred, allow me to tell you: I recommend to take distance to him. He appears to be kind, but his heart is rotten. I cannot tell you the details, but I ask you to trust me to not trust this Archbishop you speaking off.”

Sacred was surprised even her mentor Teygja Sanngridr knew that something was off with the Archbishop, who was terrorizing Reiru. “Thank you so much, Miss Teygja. I will take care.”

“If there is any more I can help you with, you can always find me here, Lady Sacred. Please keep up your good work.”

With this gained information Sacred bid goodbye to her mentor. The Royal Guard wanted to learn more about the Archbishop, while wanting to take her mentor’s warning serious. Maybe I should find the High Priestess Miryai…? Apparently she is close to him… She might be able to give me more details.

Hours passed since the meeting between the Royal Guard and her mentor. The Archbishop Teygja Sanngridr was taking a stroll through the streets of Prontera in the evening. She stopped, when she saw an armored white haired man together with his red Ferus steed and Smokie pet. They were not far from the entrance to the chivalry.

“Rhyzern Vergerald.” She approached the Rune Knight and said his name to get his attention.

The man turned his head to the woman as he heard his name. “Huh, yeaaah…? That’s my name. Uhm, did we meet before, Miss?” The Rune Knight Rhyzern was very surprised.

The Archbishop stared at him with her usual blank expression. “I am afraid, we have not yet met in person, but it is not from any importance if we have or not. I was told you have been traveling with a Royal Guard woman, who is known under the name ‘Sacred Blood’. You have my gratitude in protecting her in many situations. A true honored knight indeed. However, if your life is important to you, you must take distance from her.”

#Sacred Blood #teygja sanngridr #my writing #mel writing #gtro au #soreillia von creutz #rhyzern vergerald #Vininji Rosenkranz #faith and lies

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mama-orion · 7 years

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Sacre Coeur, chapter 3

Chapter one & chapter two Lots more to come, dear readers, though the timing of the next chapter depends on how well middle-of-the-night writing works out this week. This one begged to happen today. Thank you for your comments and likes. You keep me right.

~ ~ ~

John slowly drifts up from the blackness of deep, leaden sleep. He can still feel Sherlock’s arms around him, the warmth of his chest pressing against his back, can still feel his breath and tears on his neck. How long was I asleep? Couldn’t have been but a few minutes. But John feels… warm.

Warm. Soft bed. Smells like… home.

With a lurch of vertigo, John peels open eyes that are sticky and resistant, then squeezes them shut against blinding brightness. Though his body feels as heavy as granite, his heart is racing. Where is the forest? The mad sister? What the bloody hell is going on?

“Mrm.”

He feels Sherlock’s full-body twitch against his back as he suddenly wakes and—

“…John?” a hoarse whisper, then, “John!” a cry, his deep voice cracking, Sherlock lurching up from behind him. Long hands on his shoulder, feather-soft on his face, his hair. “Can you hear me? John, please, please be awake.”

“Mmph.”

“John!” The joy in Sherlock’s voice squeezes something inside John’s chest. It’s the delight he only ever hears when Sherlock’s solved a really tricky 9, or discovered a string of serial suicides have turned serial killer, or when…

…when he’s just saved John from a dangerous spot and he’s gotten him back, alive.

Feeling like he’s just swum the English Channel, John squints into the brightness and turns his head toward his friend. The tiny motion sends a terrific drumbeat of pain across his temple. From close by, Sherlock’s voice is sympathetic, though he's grinning so hard his glittering eyes are almost lost in the folds.

“Ah, headache, yes, that should last about twenty minutes. And you’ll be feeling intensely—“

“Wh…. water.”

“—thirsty. Here, let’s sit you up.”

John feels like he’s woken with the flu from a fevered sleep. Sherlock scoops him up from under his arms and props him against the pillows—pillows?—presses a straw to his lips. John gulps the water, can’t drink it fast enough to slake the thirst that’s clawing at his parched mouth. He tries to take the cup, but finds he still can’t make his fingers do as he asks and gratefully lets Sherlock hold the cup until he’s drained it. High-functioning sociopath, indeed.

“Better?”

“Mm. Ta,” he croaks. “Where…” He squints into the brightness and suddenly his eyes fly open.

He’s in Sherlock’s bedroom. In Sherlock’s bed. But it’s all been transformed—tables cluttered with lab equipment, an IV stands nearby. His eyes goggle. “What…” Sherlock is sitting right at his side, watching him closely, and gently places his hands on John’s shoulders. His voice is slow and patient, like when they were in the well.

“It’s okay, John, you’re safe. We’re at 221B. In my room.” His brow briefly furrows. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get you into your old room, but there wasn’t a lot of time. It was better for the equipment to be near the kitchen, anyhow, for the water source.”

Sherlock’s talking nonsense. But his face, hovering before him, makes John catch his breath. It’s grayish and lined, hollows under his eyes, tear-stained, a solid grizzle of beard darkening his usually sharp, smooth jaw. He looks utterly wrecked. Except that he’s positively glowing with relief. John blinks and blinks.

“How’d you get us… away from the well?” His voice is rough, unused. Talking makes his head pound harder, but he pushes past it. Sherlock’s eyebrows furrow again and he bites his lip, takes a small hiss of air, searches his eyes.

“Where were you, just now?”

John’s solar plexus prickles with panic. How could he not know? “Sherlock, we were just in a well. I was chained and the water was rising and…” Fumbling, John pulls aside the blanket to inspect his right leg, which should, by his account, be purpling with bruises where he kicked against the cuff. But his skin is plain, unmarred. He huffs, shaking his head with disbelief.

“John. Slow down. You’ve just woken. My god, John. You’ve actually woken…” and to his utter surprise Sherlock’s face crumples as he folds him into a fierce embrace. Despite the vertigo and confusion, John closes his eyes and leans into him, his racing heartbeat easing. I don’t know what’s happening, but he’s still here. And this… He breathes him in. This is good.

There’s a deep sniff and Sherlock pulls away, suddenly looking self-conscious and avoiding John’s eyes. He busies himself by pouring another cup of water and offering it to John, whose hands have woken up enough to support it if he uses both of them. Dazed from the hug, he drinks a while, watching Sherlock fidget with the equipment by his bedside. Finally, the thirst eases and John carefully places the cup on the bedside table. It feels like a notable achievement. His mind feels clearer, though the headache pounds on. John tries to catch his eyes.

“Just tell me what happened, how you got us back here.”

Sherlock fidgets with the edge of his blanket. Sucking in a gulp of air as if he’s about to dive deep under water, Sherlock finally meets his eyes. “John, we never left. We were attacked. You have been in a drugged sleep for several days, enduring, if my own experience is any reference, highly disturbing and lucid nightmares.”

John startles, blinks hard. “Drugged. Seriously?”

Sherlock sighs, shifting on the edge of the bed. “Both of us. But it affected me differently, only lasting a few hours. The effects were unpleasant to say the least. We were both rendered unconscious. I had a short period of vivid nightmares, woke with headache and thirst. I imagine you feel a bit like you’ve been hit by a lorry.”

“Mm.” John squirms slightly at the feverish ache in all of his limbs.

“I woke first and found you in your chair, still unconscious. I made you comfortable, figured you’d come round any moment while I dashed around calling my network, calling Mycroft to begin pursuit…” he grimaces. “Wait. I’ll get to that.” His face falls, radiating guilt. “I wish you’d woken first, with your medical instincts. I should have noticed right away you were in distress. We rushed you to Bart’s–”

“The ambulance–” John blurts out. “I remember you in my ambulance. So that part wasn’t a dream. You were…” John’s voice trails off because he remembers Sherlock had been holding his hand tightly while the paramedics worked on him. He’d looked over briefly to see his stricken face. And then more darkness, more nightmares.

“It’s as if you had an allergic reaction to it. Your body didn’t seem to want to be woken.” He turns away, hands balling into fists. “We tried so many things, ran rounds of toxicology screenings. We knew after 24 hours that there wasn’t any residue of the drug left in your system. Our bloodwork matched. But I couldn’t find the pattern.” There is self-loathing in his tone. “You stabilized. But you wouldn’t wake. For days you wouldn’t wake. It’s as though you were… trapped.”

John nods slowly. “I was.”

Sherlock studies him quietly, then looks away, suddenly shy. “We switched to alternative methods of waking you. It was Molly’s idea, actually. I made an arrangement with Mycroft–”

“Mycroft? What in hell has he got to do with–”

“I promise, John, I’ll get to that. He wasn’t in favor of our plan at all, but I was…convincing.”

John blinks, taking in the cluttered lab spread out in the room, suddenly comprehending.

“You… brought me home.”

“Yes.”

John’s chest squeezes very tightly, lips pulling into a thin line.

“While I could continue looking for a cure, we hoped that my… presence, coupled with the familiar setting, stimulating sound, would reassure the part of your mind that had barricaded you in, keeping you safe from further harm.”

“Stimulating sound? Oh…” John blinks, making the connections. “You played your violin for me.”

Sherlock smiles sheepishly. “When we lived together, I would often play outside your door when you had nightmares. It seemed to soothe you.”

“I remember,” John hums. “It always helped. And yes. I... I heard music, where I was. You and your crazy sister were playing duets while she plotted to destroy us.”

Sherlock shakes his head wonderingly. “Where have you been, Dr. Watson?”

John scrubs his face with his hands, taps is forehead which makes him grimace.

“Yea, I’ll be needing some help to sort out all the nonsense in here.”

“And not all of it nonsense, I’m afraid,” Sherlock mutters. John looks up, suddenly remembering.

“You were asking me to wake up, you know. After you’d wrapped me up in your coat.” He feels a blush creeping up his neck and decides not to divulge that part. “Didn’t make any sense in the… the dream.” It hurts to admit it, he realizes. The relief collides with a curious grief that all of Sherlock’s heroic actions in the well didn’t actually happen. He takes in the makeshift lab, the room incongruously well-equipped with nursing supplies. Well, maybe not exactly.

Sherlock blinks rapidly, digesting this.

“So, you heard me.” He grins. “I talked to you every day, read to you, told you all sorts of things, probably drove you mad—would have been fine if it drove you to wake up, tell me to shut it. It was very important that you regain consciousness today, so yes, I was…imploring you to wake up. I made an agreement with Mycroft that if I couldn’t rouse you in three days I’d allow you to be moved to a secure facility. It felt wrong to send you there. I had to wake you.”

“So you found the antidote, then?”

“I didn’t, John. You just. Woke up.” They are silent for several heartbeats. John holds Sherlock’s gaze.

“You were... holding me. In my dream. And when I woke.”

It’s Sherlock’s turn to redden and turn away. “Yes. Human contact was part of our… hypothesis.”

“Your hypothesis?” He can’t help but smirk at Sherlock’s discomfort. “So, did Molly hold me, too?”

Sherlock looks aghast. “Certainly not.”

They are quiet for a long time as John absorbs Sherlock’s words.

“It worked, you know.”

“Hm?” It’s been so many minutes that Sherlock seems to have drifted off, lost the thread. John feels a twinge when he sees how exhausted he is. I’ve been his latest case. Bet he hasn’t had a night’s sleep or a proper meal for days.

“Your…techniques. They worked. You pulled me out. Literally. From a well.” The halting words tumble out. “I was so alone. Doesn’t take a great leap to see I was stuck in my head, chained, drowning, calling to you. But you found me, just before… before I went under. You held me up, helped me breathe, made me a harness and kept me warm. And then I fell asleep, and woke up… here. With you.” John’s nostrils flare and he sets his jaw. “You rescued me. Brilliantly, Sherlock. There, and here.” He takes a long shuddering breath. “If I’d died in that dream, I’m certain it would have been fairly permanent.”

The strangeness is too much. John folds his knees into his chest and buries his head, raking at his hair. Sherlock blinks rapidly as he absorbs this information.

“I rescued you. In your dream. Oh.”

Sherlock reaches out, tentatively presses a hand on John’s foot through the blanket. When John doesn’t twitch away, he experiments with keeping it there. John lifts his head and appraises Sherlock, thunder in his eyes.

“So go on, then. Tell me. Who did this to us?”

Sherlock is suddenly filled with an agitated energy and pushes off the bed, pacing the room.

“Please, this is complicated. Are you thirsty? Do you need–”

“Sherlock, you’re stalling. Out with it.”

Sherlock scrubs his face while he paces. “It’s… You’ve only just woken. And even though I’ve been going over and over it in my mind, I’m still not sure how best to tell you without–” His voice catches and he stops, drops his gaze to his feet. John can see the strain and exhaustion etched into his face.

“Without…what? And will you sit? You’re worn through. And making me nervous.” Reluctantly Sherlock returns to his perch on the edge of the bed, a careful space between them. “Thank you. Now. Explain.”

…

“John. You have been removed from certain truths for… for such a long time. It was horrible, keeping them from you. But the alternative was unbearable. Unacceptable.” He turns away, hands balling into fists. “All I have done, John, I have done to keep you safe. But it is quite possible and even justifiable that when I have told you everything, and I intend to tell you everything, you will want nothing to do with me. Not ever again.”

He stops, hunches his shoulders protectively, closing his eyes, steeling himself for the wave of John’s anger. He knows how much John hates being lied to, hates being left out. But the silence stretches on and still it doesn’t come.

Instead a hesitant hand, trembling with the simple effort of moving across the sheet, rests on top of his. He twitches slightly at the touch, his fist uncurling, then looks back at John, confused. John’s eyes glitter and his expression is baffling. His voice is unexpectedly soft.

“Sherlock, a short time ago I was drowning. Utterly real. And while as I was in that freezing water, I went through everyone in my head I should be struggling to stay alive for.” He gives Sherlock’s hand a small squeeze. “Maybe I was in this bed the whole time, warm and safe, but to me, Sherlock, it was reality. And so was every thought I had.”

He ducks his chin to catch his eyes. Sherlock sucks in his breath and makes himself brave them, because John woke up when I pulled him from a well. The blue of his irises is a color he was not sure he’d get to see again. He feels a throb in his chest.

“So whatever you’re about to tell me, Sherlock, I’d like you to tell me here." John pulls very lightly at Sherlock’s hand. "No truth you tell me is going to frighten me away. Not anymore.”

Wondering if perhaps he’s now the one dreaming, Sherlock shifts back onto the mattress slowly, gingerly settling next to John, shoulder and arm and thigh touching. Invited. It's different than when John was asleep. I’m shaking.

John folds Sherlock's hand into his and holds it like iron, then leans closer, settling against Sherlock’s shoulder. With a shiver and a spasm of breath, Sherlock drops his chin to rest on John’s soft hair, breathes in the scent of him. Moth wings unfold in his chest. This is a catalyst. John brushes his thumb over the soft skin of Sherlock’s palm, sending a shiver from toe to scalp. We can’t go back. What new chain reaction are they tumbling through? What comes after this? Whatever it is, it feels like home.

They sit very quietly. Where a moment ago Sherlock was ready to explain himself out of John’s life, now his mind is curiously blank while it catalogs the warmth and pressure of each place John has willingly pressed his body against his own.

…

“Thank you.” John hums a sigh. Sherlock gradually relaxes against him, his breath slowing. Look at us. John sleepily watches their fingers braided together, very slowly exploring knuckle, fingertip, palm. Something changed in the well. It’s as if some vital part inside of him, something that was loose and rattling, has settled into its place. It's the most peaceful he's felt in, well, in years. His eyelids droop closed, craving a simpler, natural sleep. His mind drifts.

In the bright afternoon light of Sherlock’s room, leaning into the man who has saved him, memories begin bobbing to the surface of John’s mind. He scrutinizes them, begins to feel the difference between the true memories and the dreams. The nightmares lack dimension. Upon closer inspection, they crackle apart into irrational logic. Like that wild one where Mrs. Hudson careened to his therapists’ in a sports car, Sherlock drugged in the boot, helicopters trailing. Or that awful one where he was hurting Sherlock, god, hurting him so badly in a morgue. Bloody hell. He leans against Sherlock and feels him lean back, which sends an effervescent ripple through his stomach. It steadies him. He is safe.

A dam bursts. A dark wave of memory floods John’s mind. Real memories.

Christ. He stares up at the ceiling, jaw working, seething. I knew. Knew all along.

John breaths in sharply, coming back to himself, and finds Sherlock watching him carefully. He’s worried. John gives Sherlock’s hand another reassuring squeeze and swallows hard.

“It’s okay,” he says very quietly, the anger a crackling current just below the surface of his words. “I remember now. It was Mary. She did this to us.”

___

Tagging those who liked/shared earlier chapters, because I’m a cliff-hanger jerk and when I’m reading a story I rage at the writer who leaves me hanging…

@clace-morgenstern-herondale71 @brilliantorinsane @tqosaw @tagnent @theseobsessions @is-that-a-designer @getwaterdamage @sherlockisnolongeravailable @min2chin @joynvrs @pinkrose423 @ineedhugz @allyhockeyfan @noshit-sherlovk

#fanfic #johnlock #fixitfic #sacrecoeurfic

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veritas-58 · 7 years

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The World of Vesfalya

CHAPTER 1: In These Dark Times.... “...Grant us Oerba's mercy, O light bringer , may you grant us the peace of Ljosalfar's feathers.” Deusa Hemera sat down, the white robe and the light yellow stripes made her divine image stood out amongst the three rulers of the Vesfalyan court table. “My friends” she said with a gentle voice like that of a whisper of a gentle breeze, “It has been ten decades since our ancestors sat where we are sitting right now, when peace was finally made at the hands of Fate, we must now declare our power towards peace once more” The whole dimensional field was only filled with a gentle breeze that shot across the giant windows of the tower, the court table was not large enough for 10 people, and was specifically close enough to build the trust between rulers exempting petty politics from their heads.

“Peace was made out of fear, Hemera, and don't you forget that” King Arcturus Canis Neoteristis asserted, seated next to Bludsumma Ozella Vue at the left side of the table, wearing his usual dark cloak laced with glowing red stripes, and the strong sense of authority he gave with his half-bodied bronze armor, he contemplated on the situation, looking at Deusa Hemera with suspicious intent.

“It was your giant beasts in the sky that made the peace, coercion and magic won the day” He said crossing legs under the table. “Don't forget” Said Ozella Vue, “that the light bringers of your kingdom embraced the Dark Arts' autonomy in certain lands of Vesfalya, I'll never trust the darkness they will bring upon!” As she said those last words she stood up with her eyes lighting fiery scarlet blood looking at Hemera with a threatening gaze, her dark leather outfit was not for a Queen, rather the Dark leather combined with the scarlet insignia on her coat signified a warrior ready to take the life of an enemy she can think of. “Aghh! Why are we here!?” Complained Arcturus “My kingdom has been specializing on a formula to combat the Giants in the northern regions, I must act now!” He punched the table asserting his position in the court, not letting Ozella taking the threats to herself to scare off the Divine goddess. “Ahhhh Is that what you're planning? How about I take my Ropens to your airships and help you crash into the giants? Problem solved!” Sarcastically remarked Ozella, the two focusing on one another as if waiting for a reason to sack each other's kingdoms.

Deusa Hemera's eyes were closed and her soul in a blissful but worrisome state, her eyes finally opened and turned her face to the ruler sitting on the right side of the table, wearing a hooded robe colored in white and striped in blue color. She looked at him with reassurance, he nodded and removed his hood, showing his face to the two fighters with a calm but serious disposition, the two rulers sat back into their chairs again their faces turning the other way. “Let the meeting continue” Montag Fenrirus Valeria IV said and nodded at Hemera.

“Very good. This meeting is about the creatures that have been unstable in the past centuries.”

Arcturus raised his hand slightly signaling to speak, “We have already taken care of these rodents, the kingdoms balancing them through hard labor!”

“Yes, however the circumstances have changed---the angels have told me that they're missing.” “Pardon?” Reacted Ozella “I have not noticed any missing creatures in my realm”

“That is because you have full control over them, the missing creatures are mostly from Montag's region where free will still reigns them” “However,” said Arcturus “I have been noticing the lack of dragon attacks in my region, that is why we're focusing on the giants now.” “Yes, yes.” Raised Ozella “My magic can't detect the life force of which I cannot perceive, However, is this meeting really necessary for such an act? The missing Orcs, Trolls and whatever your tongue names them are local matters, not Vesfalyan ones.” “Hey!” Arcturus raised his voice turning to Montag “Arkana user, anything to add?”

“This meeting is to decide if this should be a local matter or a Vesfalyan one. If this were done correctly, we would need to check each other's kingdoms without violating any sacred border rules.” Montag asserted.

“Hmph. Then I propose this to be a local matter, no magicka user's going to survey my land over missing dragons.” “I agree,” Ozella nodded “There is no reason to search mine, I am not letting Arkana poison the fruits of my kingdom.”

Then, with a thundering sound came a loud cry of beasts from outside, a cannon struck the Tower shields, everyone stood up surprised. “Who found us!?” Arcturus raised his sword and went outside the tower immediately.

“Impossible...” said Hemera “They couldn't have...” Another shot of firebolt hit the shields of the tower as everyone hastily teleported outside.

“Yes...” mumbled Ozella as she looked upon the multitudes of Orcs and Trolls outside the Tower on the blank green fields, miles from where they are. She raised her hand up in the sky, in the glimmer of hope destruction was at her waking.

“I have to go back to my kingdom” Said Arcturus, a foresight vision was activated within his magicka consciousness, showing an army approaching the walls of Ivadia. He looked at the magicka users and fled off the dimension.

The three rulers looked at themselves, and started walking the fields towards the approaching army. A large fire boulder was headed their way as Hemera raised her hand and instantly the boulder burned bright and into dust while in the air. She summoned a staff from the light of the sun and suddenly flew towards the approaching army, she held her hands together and prayed. The Sun shone bright on that day, and on that moment it shone even brighter as its burning light was killing off the Orcs turning them into gray ash. The signal already started and a million Orcs and Trolls charged towards the three rulers.

Whle Hemera was burning the other half of the army, Ozella with a quick haste made towards a small hill, overlooking the approaching army, like a bunch of black thick ants with weapons and a scream that can match a thousand dragons roaring at once. Her eyes burned bright with excitement and anger as she put her palms on the ground and an insignia made of her blood suddenly drew itself on the soft soil. Her mouth mumbling a language too fast to comprehend as the other half of the Orcs' eyes suddenly turned bright red, burning their minds from the inside before they're fully controlled. When Ozella laughed at the moment, the Orcs laughed as well. Her mind was inside a thousand Orcs and screamed as Ozella screamed in passionate excitement as her controlled Orcs suddenly attack the others or slice their own throats with their thick axes.

Montag, with his hands behind his back was standing on another small hill observing the whole event.

“Montag!” Ozella screamed at him “Attack you worthless coward!” She screamed and laughed while attacking and infecting more Orcs as Hemera was burning the other thousands of Trolls from the West.

Montag was able to speak within their minds “This is a distraction..”

“What!?” Asked Ozella “Your kingdoms, return to them. Now” “We could not just leave them here Montag” Hemera spoke

“Then enough” Montag walked towards in the middle of the approaching horde. He raised his palm towards the direction of the horde, a blue pentagram drawn on his palm as he uttered “Cenvantiases, mol alcie vesitatutm est” When the words were uttered, every Orc or troll that got near him aged quickly to the point that they turn to nothing but old flesh and bones rotting on the ground. He levitated going to the middle of the army with the rest of the horde turning to ashes and blood filling the ground.

Montag raised his hands and a blue light shined on his eyes, a giant blue pentagram filled the whole area, hands come out of the earth and take the Orcs one by one, all of them disappearing into the ground till their weapons lay on the barren soil.

In an instant, the hands returned down the soil and the three rulers went back to the Tower entrance.

“A vision haunts me” uttered Montag “Go back to your kingdoms and save them quickly” All of them looked at the disappeared army, contemplating what happened, figuring out the cause of the event, Montag answered it for them: “The Dead shall rise, and the Void fills the Universe. Angelus Mortis approaches”

#Shortstory #fiction

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linuxgamenews · 2 years

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Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One gets a big discount

Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One visual novel game is now on Sale for Linux and Windows PC. Thanks to the ongoing support of developer Tanuki-sama Studios. Which you can find now on Steam. Which also boasts Steam Deck support. Recent events have prompted UK-based Tanuki-sama Studios to host an unusual sale on Steam. While calling it, "the UK and the value of the £ is crashing". As a result, the developers are putting Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle on sale. So of course, they want to spread this news more widely. Just in case other UK-based developers are unaware Since raising funds in the indie space is always difficult. As well as offering any possible boost for indie studios’ revenue at this difficult time. This would no doubt be welcome. TSS is reducing the price of Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One by 50% for one week. Starting now, October 3rd. Ethan Fox, owner of the studio, has this to say:

We’re dismayed at the recent catastrophic events in British government that have led to the pound, at the time of writing, being worth approaching 1:1 with the US Dollar; the lowest since the 80s and potentially soon the lowest on record.

However, as Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One grow, Steam pays their developers in dollars. So this means that $100 USD in summer 2021 was worth £72. Now that same $100 USD is worth £93.

Teaser Trailer | "Sacred Feathers" | Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Chapter IV

youtube

Earnings from our first Steam release, Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One directly help with the budget for future development. Meaning that right now, every sale of the game, temporarily, gives an extra boost. So Tanuki-sama thought a sale at this critical time would be a great way to get the word out. Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One is part a series of anime-themed courtroom adventures. One in which players step into court in a world where all anime genres exist at once. The game is available for Linux, Steak Deck, and Windows PC. Tthese latter versions being native Linux builds of the game. Tanuki-sama Studios is presently working on the sequel, Chapter IV: “Sacred Feathers”. More info about this new, upcoming game is provided below. Tanuki-sama Studios is reducing the price of Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One by 50% for one week. Starting now, you can save big on Steam.

#nina aquila: legal eagle #visual novel #linux #gaming news #tanuki-sama studios #ubuntu #windows #pc #rpg maker mv

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magic5ball · 3 years

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Nature Trail to Hell Arc IV: Megamart of Darkness (7)

Chapter 7: ATTACK THE WEGMART! ATTACK LIKE YOU WANT TO LIVE!!!

Picture this: You’re a Wegmart greeter; just gotten up for the morning shift. You go through the motions, waving your hand and eating from a bag of whatever it is Wegmart Greeter Guys eat (I suspect its’ the same stuff they feed mall cops), when suddenly, you see something BIG on the horizon, even bigger than the trucks that deliver every physical object known to man to the store. But as far as your hazy mind is concerned, its’ just another day in white walled, air conditioned paradise. As it gets closer, the thing starts to block out the sun, leaving you a tad chilly. Still, you keep the same old routine: smile and wave, wave and smile. After all, you are Wegmart’s Greeter Guy, that makes you immortal, in its’ own way. Still, as it grows nearer, you get a tad nostalgic. You recognize the giant black mass as a choo-choo train, the kind you collected as a kid, except this one is the size of your HOUSE. And at the sides, several squat, waddling figures donning birthday hats are hauling in along with ropes, like they’re carrying some giant birthday present. You recognize the little guys as those cute white-cheeked geese who’re always trying to get in. Still, you know from experience there’s no way some pwecious widdle birds can touch you. After all, to kill you would mean war, a war they could never hope to win! They finally stop when the choo-choo is inches from your face. One of the geese waddles up to you with a post-it-note in its’ mouth. You take the note from it; read it. Since the sun’s so bright and your eyes are still kinda crusty, you have to turn around to do it, so the note faces the light.

We, the citizens of the glorious kingdom of Keystonia, hereby cede our territories to the great and glourious Wegmart Empire! Heil Wegmart!

You roll your eyes at that last part. When you look up again, the geese have gone, leaving just you and the massive hunk of steel and cylinders. Part of you wonders if you should show the thing to your boss. The other part wonders how awesome this thing would look in your garage. While you’re busy fantasizing, scheming, and dreaming (you know, the thing your boss told you never to do), you barely notice as steam starts puffing from the engine’s sides (it does blend in well with the morning fog). And how about that whistle? You can almost hear it!

And too late, you realize how bad you done screwed up. The great black engine lurches forward, too fast for you to react, only halting once it hits your body. For a split second you stand there smiling smugly. You’re the Wegmart Greeter, the company’s most valuable piece of property! This dopey engine can’t touch you!

At least, it can’t until you realize you’re starting to crack around the edges. Behind the engine, a great cloud blackens the sky. At least, what you think it’s a cloud until you realize it’s a flock of birds, more birds than you have ever seen in your lifetime, casting the whole of Wegmart in shadow.

It is the last thing your wrinkly old face will ever see.

. . .

At least, I figure that’s the last thing Greeter Guy ever saw. I couldn’t see because Bokrug and I were stuffed in Baldwin’s smokebox (all part of the plan).

So where was I, again? Right! Raid on Wegmart!

Once we mowed over the Greeter, the sliding doors were a cakewalk by comparison. Not only that, but thanks to Bokrug, we had recruited an army of almost every bird in the state, from blue herons to budgies to even an alligator (who was mostly just there for the free nachos we promised him)! After that was a bit of a different story. The brown baggers, having sensed a disturbance in the Mart, quickly erected a barricade of gallon sized bags of cereal and pet chow between us and the inner aisles. Still, we kept the heat on, even as they started firing their laser scanners at us, then bringing in the RC helicopters loaded with their Shamwow bullets. It wasn’t long before Baldwin started taking heavy damage.

“This…better…land…me…in the New Yorker.” He chuffed and puffed right before a stray penny got lodged in his wheel, causing him to explode into a million pieces.

The brown baggers were started enough to let their guard down. Just what we wanted. Bokrug and I exploded out of the smokebox, me pushing a shopping cart with one hand and the goose riding it the basket like a baby. Speaking of shopping carts, some realized what was going down and decided to join the winning team, acting as mounts for our avian army. As for my free hand, I had it on the trigger of my tommy gun, pumping anyone dumb enough to mess with me full of lead.

“Forward!” The goose honked, so loud it shattered every pane of glass within a mile. “The defenses are breached! Woe is you, fools who would steal our sacred LARPing grounds! For DOOM has come to your establishment!”

And as the final layer of icing on the epicness cake, Bokrug snatched some poor sap’s finger in his beak, tore it off, and swallowed the thing whole! He did this several times, flipping digits into his mouth like they were fishsticks! As for me, I was shooting everything from store clerks to RC helicopters everyday til’ Wednesday, trying my best to make sure not to hit Bokrug. (Not easy, seeing how a million stray laserbeams seemed to be heading our way at once).

At some point, Bokrug snatched my tommy gun away from me.

“Hey!” I cried. What’d you do that for?!”

Several bullets rang out of the tommy gun, hitting several liter bottles of soda. They exploded instantly.

“With all due respect my friend” countered the goose “Your marksmanship is terrible! Who taught you to shoot? Deinonychus?”

As much as I was tempted to snap, I had to hand it to the Bokster: despite lacking any opposable thumbs, he was a much better shot than I was.

Together, we charged down the aisles, leaving a path of destruction in our wake.

I could almost hear a heavy metal band in the distance, goading us on.

“So what exactly are we looking for?!” I hollered.

“The Spring of Immortality, you fool! Imagine the most glorious wellspring of pristine water you have ever seen! ”

“So my school’s water fountain?”

The great bird gave a deep bellow, which I guess was his way of laughing. “Such a paltry human construction is but naught against the glory of the spring! Now hurry. I fear our army might not last much longer!”

Can’t say I had much time to pay attention, seeing I was still dodging a million targets at once, but the glimpses I caught weren’t good. Our army wasn’t the most skilled, but they were held in place by confidence and sheer numbers. We might have gotten an early lead, but without the Baldwin, the Megamart’s bargain priced weapons were mowing down our feathered friends like my Dad mows grass: so fine you almost think it’s’ AstroTurf. A pile of birds lay on the ground that would make Audobon roll in his grave. It wouldn’t be long before we’d have to make a tactical retreat we just couldn’t afford.

So Bokrug and I sped from aisle to aisle, eyes peeled for even the slightest glimpse of water. But the only aqua pura in our cards were some ‘Buy 1, get 1 Free!’ signs for bottled water.

Well, also one other thing.

As we passed the cereal aisle for the fifth time (he was really insistent on searching everywhere) I couldn’t help but notice a little something strung to the sides of the shelves. You know: go to any big name Megamart, and nine times out of ten, they’ll have some gimmicky kitchen gadget or kiddie toy strung up next to the food, suckering some dumb fool into spending a few extra cents.

In this case, that toy was those little pills that turn into foam dinosaurs when you add water.

When I tried telling this to Bokrug, all he did was grumble. “So it is not enough they take our sacred spring of immortality from us? Now they encase my brethren in spaces too small for even a compsognathus?! And yet they would call me a monster?! These demons must pay!”

Didn’t stop me from snagging a packet as we went past, though. Figured if it all went to crap, then darn it, I was getting something for my trouble! Speaking of trouble, that’s exactly what we were heading into, and not just because we passed the board game section! Or maybe it was, since some wiseguy realized it would be a swell idea to scatter a bunch of game pieces in our path. I steered like the devil, but just as we were about to go to the next aisle, a stray six-sided die landed right beneath our wheel, launching the back part of the cart forward and sending us flying like baseballs.

Balls.

Suddenly it hit me, almost as hard as my body when it hit the jack-covered linoleum floor.

“Hey, I think I know where the spring might be- to the Summer Clearance Sail!”

I ran, the goose waddling behind, nipping anyone foolish enough to get in his way.

“And what is this ‘Summer Clearance Sale’ of which you speak?”

“Right there!” I cried, pointing to a giant inflatable sun hanging from the ceiling in a corner of the store. “They always have craptons of exotic flavored water they’re trying to pawn off! And some of that water just might be from your spring!”

Bokrug growled, but this time his ire was not directed at our enemies.

“Fool! Why did you not tell me of this earlier?!”

“Look, there’s a lot of lasers flying around and I’m really stressed, okay?!”

Several laser scans shot holes straight through Bokrug’s feathers, sending them flying. Whatever time we had was quickly running out. All we could do was run.

Me in front, goose trailing, we traveled to our fate, to our destiny…

To the Aisle at the End of the World.

#My writing #Nature Trail To Hell #geese #shamwow #shopping cart #baldwin 60000 #megamart #dinosaur

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magic5ball · 3 years

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Nature Trail to Hell Arc IV: Megamart of Darkness (3)

Chapter 3: … And Put Up a Megamart

It was like Christmas day all over again! For the first time in my ten year existence, someone had screwed up that wasn’t me! I never even realized this could be a possibility up to that point. And you bet your toenails I absolutely reveled in it.

At first they were honking like mad, protesting how I might work for Wegmart or somesuch (it had happened before, apparently). But all ol’ Bokrug had to do was give them a glare and they shut up good. I could understand why, though. For the Elves, apologizing is a fancy affair, with them all lining up in front of me, each kissing my swollen kneecap one at a time while I towered above them, laughing. I would have settled for a plain old “I’m sorry.”, but you know what they say, Elves will be Elves.

One hour of kneecap smooches later, Birthday Boy stood in front of me, surprisingly dignified in his stupid hat. The rest of his flock (drove? Pack? It really is hard to decide what to call a group of these guys) formed a half-circle behind him, like his own personal orchestra (though geek choir would be more appropriate).

“Come now, o’ vagrant” he said, lifting out a wing for me “We must journey to the outskirts of the cursed lands so that you may know the direness of our situation.”

He pointed to the forest. I groaned, not exactly in the mood for walking.

“Fear not. We have procured some edibles to sustain us on are strenuous trek.”

An Elf wandered up to me, carrying the so called ‘blessed sustenance’ in their beak.

“Within this bag is the blessed manna bread, which will sate your hunger for your entire journey, as well as the meat of sacred to give you unspeakable strength, should the situation require it.”

All I saw was a half-eaten bag of beef jerky with a stale doughnut hole inside.

“The Blessings of Bokrug be with you!” the Elves honked, their half circle shifting into a path straight to the woods.

Birthday Boy didn’t start explaining until we reached the trees, a trial in and of itself. See, if it wasn’t cringe-inducing enough he had to explain everything to me in that dated voice of his, no, he just had to make everything rhyme!

“Long ago in the Days of yore,” he began, “’Twas blessed land where we bore-our young, who pooped as they pleased in pristine ponds ‘til they turned algae green. It was this algae that we ate, from hours seven ‘til eight, when wily hours twist the day to darkness. And those who’d venture on yonder path, fed us wholesome grain, or faced our wrath, like the bull thistles blooming on a summer’s day.”

Somehow, he managed to keep his honker running the. Whole. Way. There. By the time we got to our destination, I knew more about LARP geese history than about my own family.

But where was there, you might be asking? Well, as Birthday Boy would say-

“’Till one day we encroached the wrath of wastrels longst strayeth from good path. Who sought paradise’s golden fruit as their own. We lost, o terrible tragedy, yet followed somber reality, as our greatest ally betrayed us, and the great pond of yore became asphalt.”

For those reading this who can’t quite get Birthday Boy’s pretentious picture, we had arrived at a parking lot. Now, even young me had seen a fair number of lots in his time, but never one this big. It stretched over the horizon, a never-ending desert of streetlights and maybe some handicapped spaces. (Which, if we kept walking any longer, I was probably gonna need.)

“Go forth child, and understand, who tooketh away our promised land.”

As we walked across the parking lot, I couldn’t help but notice Birthday Boy waddled a bit behind me now. Something was coming up at the edge of my vision. At first I thought it was just a mirage, seeing all the heat radiating off the asphalt, but as we got closer, it became too big to be fake. Not tall in the usual way, though: heightwise it was only about three stories tall. But widthwise, well…

The darn thing seemed to go on forever.

What stood before us on that sweltering summer day was a giant rectangle painted so white it practically blinded me, its’ only other features being a sliding door, above which was a set of bold red letters, each the size of my house, proudly announcing the store’s name: a name I knew well from years of being stuck in a dressing room as my Mom forced me to try on just one more sweater before winter set in:

WEGMART

Birthday Boy spoke, his voice now as hushed as a goose voice could be (which was still subtle as a sack of sledgehammers). “Now we tread carefully with fear. If you are caught, I cannot help you here.”

Conveniently enough (though it shouldn’t have been that surprising, considering where we were) two rows of cars formed a path to the place, like guards lining the world’s blackest red carpet. In other words, the perfect place for a goose to hide under. Walking down this path (only half obeying Birthday Boy’s instructions: I tread carefully, but I’m a Tostig and if you know Tostigs, we never tread with fear, at least not when we can help it) I found it kinda weird how this place made out to be this evil fortress of ultimate horrific doom didn’t have so much as a security camera to keep me out. The only thing between me and those automatic sliding doors was some wrinkly old guy wearing a blue traffic safety vest: the Wegmart Greeter Guy. For those not in the know, the Greeter Guy is this shtick Wegmart does where they employ some old guy who’ll work for pennies so visiting shoppers can be reminded of their own mortality. Something seemed a bit… off about this one, though. There was a broad grin on his face, too broad for a man his age; right hand raised in a perpetual wave at nothing. Seemed fake, though I figured this was yet another one of those byproducts of the high cost of low price or whatever they were saying on the news.

I couldn’t step one foot past him before I hit something. Hard. I’d say it was like glass, on account of it being completely invisible, but really, it was more like hitting a steel wall that also gave you the worst case of static shock in the universe. Of course, young me being young me, this didn’t register until he’d waltzed into that deathtrap so many times he couldn’t feel his limbs. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me the only reason I didn’t try to enter Wegmart a few more times was because by the last time, I was so zapped outta my head I stumbled into the cars by complete accident, giving the one Birthday Boy was under a static snap so strong it exploded in a ball of fire.

“Fool!” honked the goose “Do you not realized that your knaveous action could very well have delivered me to a premature encounter with dread mortis?!”

I did not. And if it weren’t the fact he was explaining the situation to me, I don’t even think I would have cared that much. All I wanted was to go home, play video games, and spend the rest of the summer sleeping this crazy adventure off.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your tolerance for Shakespeare) Birthday Boy was fast regaining his composure.

“As you can see, they’ve torn asunder Holy Mountain. Sacred stream has become drinking fountain. A wicked grinning barrier they have erected. So long it stands, from elfin magic they are protected.”

“So… you mean to tell me that the greeter guy is some kind of magic energy shield thingy stopping you guys from getting your home back?”

“Your answer ‘tis acute. Now we must be astute.”

I saw a little black object flying in the sky. On account of the bright sun, I couldn’t see it clearly, but it freaked the everloving feathers off of Birthday Boy.

“Flee!” he honked, waddle-flying for the woods. “Every elf now for himself!”

Something shot out from the thing: a little foam dart, not unlike the kinds I had in my toy aero guns (or had, until I discovered real ammo.) It landed inches from my foot. A second later, it did something no foam dart should do: it started dissolving the ground with a hiss. As if on cue, the sky around me started to darken. Looking up, I could now see the mysterious black object was a toy RC helicopter.

Thousands of them, all armed with those same dissolving darts.

“We must escape now!” Honked Birthday Boy “Those curs wield the dread power of Shampow! A power you could not hope to understand, one long forbidden from the clutches of man!”

“Yeah, I get the idea!” I cried as we ran all the way back to the stock pond.

We didn’t reach there ‘til sundown. When we did, Bokrug was first to speak to me.

“I trust you know the direness of the situation?”

“Well, yeah. But I still don’t see how I fit into all this. You guys look pretty powerful on your own.”

“While we have had some success in hit and run missions-“ He gestured a wing towards the shopping carts and tiki torches wielded by his brethren “-We have lossed far more than we have gained. Only by penetrating the heart of darkness, and seizing the blessed water that once flowed through our LARPing grounds might we hope to end the conflict once and for all.” He said to me. “As you witnessed, our sacred LARPing grounds have been overtaken by the evil known as Wegmart. Using the limitless power of the Greeter Guy, they have erected a massive magic-proof barrier we cannot cross.”

“And how do I fit into this?”

“There is but one thing that can pierce Wegmart’s barrier: An artifact of a bygone age known as the Baldwin 60000. But in order to steal this artifact, we must first animate it with a mysterious artifact known as gold dust.”

“Still not seeing how I fit in.”

“Gold dust, however, is an incredibly rare thing. The only satchel known to exist was only ever possessed by the man who founded this great land: A man named William Penn! Technically, he acquired it from the natives… Among other things, but that is a story for another time.”

“And where the heck do you get gold dust?”

“You shall find it in the pockets of the great man himself as he surveys his city!”

“Hold on! So you’d want me to climb to the top of City Hall, and pickpocket a national hero when you have a thousand little goose friends who can FLY?! How does this make any sense?!”

Said thousand little friends glared at me.

“I would suggest referring to them as ‘Elves’.” Bokrug whisper-honked. “In honesty, I find the distinction quite trivial myself, but it is a touchy subject for them. But! You are correct: that is indeed the most logical path, but as it would happen, city hall is covered in spikes. Birdproof spikes. Seeing as you are partially human, I have faith you just might be immune.”

“Huh! I always figured those spikes were leftovers from William Penn’s rebellious phase!”

“As truth would have it, they were made to keep away those who would sully Penn’s temple of tolerance.” Bokrug and his brood turned to face me. “So, Watterson Tostig, I must humbly ask of you: Are you up to the task? Will you help us?”

I thought long and hard at that- maybe longer and harder than I’d ever thought in my LIFE up to that point. F-Bomb had warned me birds were a bunch of sellouts, giving up their form so they could live on the surface. But they had problems, BIG problems. And, well, maybe I’d run away from things a bit too much that summer, sappy as it might sound. Maybe it was time to lend a hand to guys who didn’t have any, even if they weren’t real dinosaurs.

“Alright,” I nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Bokrug bowed his head. “Thank you, Watterson Tostig.”

On cue, a trench-coated man emerged from the woods, pushing a shopping cart with a pair of fire extinguishers strapped to the back of it. It took me a moment to realize the ‘guy’ was just four geese stacked on top of one another, like in those old cartoons.

“Our envoy shall take you to as far as City Hall. After that, may your Lord’s grace be with you.”

But before I got in the shopping cart, there was one last question I had to ask:

“Say Bokrug, why’d you have your little friend take me to a death trap to explain the situation when you did it yourself just fine?”

The bandit-masked goose shrugged. “You seemed to me a visual learner.”

I rolled my eyes. This guy was starting to sound like my teachers!

#My writing #Nature Trail To Hell #bokrug #geese #grocery store #parking lot #shopping cart #gold dust

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